Serena Williams will begin the defence of her Wimbledon title just happy to be back on the lawns of the All England Club.

The 29-year-old returned from 11 months of injury and illness at Eastbourne last week, her first tournament since winning Wimbledon last year.

Things began to go wrong a few days after she beat Vera Zvonareva in the final at SW19 when she cut her foot on broken glass at a restaurant.

What was initially thought to be a minor issue eventually required two operations and kept her out for months. Then, Williamsâ hopes of a return earlier this year were scuppered by the discovery of blood clots on her lungs, which could have been life-threatening without treatment.

All of which means it is not surprising Williams is putting thoughts of a fifth Wimbledon title firmly to the back of her mind.

The eighth seed said: âIt would be awesome and amazing [to win] but thatâs not my thought process. My thought process is just to play the best I can. Iâm happy to be here.â

Her comeback event saw her shake off a slow start to beat Tsvetana Pironkova before losing to Zvonareva. Williams was reasonably pleased with her game and especially happy to be able to compete without any problems with her lungs.

She added: âI didnât feel anything after a three-hour match. That was a blessing. Although I felt like the breaks were five seconds long. Every time I sat down, the umpire would call, âtimeâ. But I felt like I was able to go through it.â

The seventh seed, who plays Aravane Rezai in round one, insisted that despite her problems, she never considered quitting. âI always thought Iâd want to continue to play,â she added.

âIâll stop when Iâm ready, and Iâm just not ready. I really thoroughly enjoy being out here.â